Sent to Interim County Manager Robert Murphy:
In order for citizens to formulate and make informed comments at Monday night’s public hearings regarding the Economic Development Incentive Grant and the Economic Development Loan, they must have complete information about each. They cannot and should not be expected or invited to comment on secret matters that have only been discussed/addressed in closed sessions and about which they know nothing.
By 10:00am Monday July 6, please forward me by electronic mail and make public all documents relating to:
1. the Economic Development Incentive Grant, including but not limited to all applications, background investigation results on company, and property owner, correspondence with the company, correspondence with the property owner, correspondence with state officials, correspondence with federal officials, transcripts of meetings, etc.; and
2. the Economic Development Loan, including but not limited to all applications (including Credit Application), Company Dun & Bradstreet Report, Company Officers’ Credit Reports, Company Balance Sheets (3 years), Company Profit and Loss Statements (3 years), Company Cash Flow Analysis (3 years), Company Audits (3 years), background investigation results on company officials, customer recommendations, vendor recommendations, correspondence with the company, correspondence with state officials, correspondence with federal officials, transcripts of meetings, etc.
If providing this information will take more time, please cancel the public hearings until the information is made available to the public and citizens have had ample time to review it. Please make public all documents regarding these two economic development matters, give us time to do our due diligence, and then ask us what we think. Such would make sense if you care what we think. Anything short of full disclosure and transparency is not fair, not honest, and not responsible to the citizens you claim to serve.
If you are unwilling or unable to provide this information, please advise with reason/reasons ASAP.
Thanks in advance for your prompt, responsible assistance in this matter.
Rusty McMahon
Rusty,
Do you seriously think the info. you requested will be provided? I think your commissioners would rather you pay taxes & sit back & be seen & not heard. When will the voters in your county remove any commissioner who isn’t doing the will of the people? Until then, they would prefer the silence.
Robert Murphy responded to my official Request for Information at 9:50am today.
He wrote, “Thank you for your email. I am unable to provide the materials requested today, but would you still want any of the requested materials we may have if I could provide them later in the week?”
Please notice what he really said. He is unable to provide the information today, but he might be able to provide any information he may have late this week. Later in the week is after the Public Hearings. What good will that do? Kind of defeats the purpose of having public hearings and asking us to comment on their plans tonight, does it not?
I responded with the following at 10:13 this morning:
Mr. Murphy,
Thanks for responding.
In order for citizens to make informed comments this evening, they need the requested information.
You indicated that you “may” have some of the requested information and that you might provide it later in the week. But somehow, you are unable to provide the requested information today.
1. Do you have the requested information?
2. Are you going to make it public before the hearings?
3. If not, are you going to go forward with the public hearings, knowing that citizens cannot comment on secret matters about which they know nothing?
Thanks in advance for your prompt assistance.
As of 3:15pm, Mr. Murphy has not responded.
Regardless, what is the purpose of Public Hearings/Comments on these two Economic Development matters if we have been purposefully kept in the dark? Are the commissioners and EDC leaders merely going through the motions and trying to make us think our opinions matter?
Their record speaks volumes about their covering their ears and marching ahead with their special interest agenda, not ours.